A Trip Down Memory Lane
by PamelaTurpin
Summary: AU. Known since three. Liked since five. Cared since twelve. Together since sixteen. Husband since seventeen. Father since twenty. Loved till forever. The scars will never fade, but love interwined them together. Peeta's trip down Memory Lane.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N – First, thanks to all your positive reviews on my fanfiction _Secret Life of a Wizarding Teenager – _of course, couldn't have done it without you Hogs people!_ _Forever love you guys – truly. You guys changed my life. _

_And now, on with the fanfiction! This is dedicated to Hogs on Shelfari(dot)com!_

_**This fanfiction is an assortment of one-shots, about Peeta and Katniss, of course. It will draw Peeta and Katniss's moments, from pre-HG to post-MJ. **_

_**Enjoy – despite the fact that I have horrible writing skills! Peeta's POV (unless I decide to start changing POV every new chapter.)**_

Chapter 1

I was only four when I first met Katniss Everdeen.

My brothers had taken him to the park – to play soccer, like they always did. I considered this another normal day. I was still the same old Peeta – four, blond, beating my older brothers at soccer despite the fact that I was almost a foot shorter than my oldest brother, Mike, and definitely shorter than my second older brother, Jared.

Mike was, well, cursing (ignoring the fact that he was only ten) at the fact that I was much better than him. Jared was looking at me with narrowed eyes, while drinking water from his little water bottle. He was only eight – and wasn't as dramatic as Mike about these things.

A group of girls were watching the Mellark brothers' little mini-game of soccer and whispering and giggling. I didn't know what was going on. The girls were only Mike's classmates – I had met a few of them before. Me, Peeta Mellark, didn't know much, but all I knew was that, the girls looked exactly like all the teenage girls in Secondary School. And I didn't get it, seeing as they were only ten.

Soccer continued as soon as Jared joined again. Mike and Jared were sweating. I was looking at them as if I was bored. Jared gave me the evil eye. I put on the signature 'adorable' face again and tried to ignore them.

I was just about to make a goal when his eyes caught two figures making their way to the park – a girl and her father.

I don't know what was running through my mind then. I mean, I had only met the father, when he came to our place to trade squirrels for our bread. The girl…well, I had no idea.

I think I was a bit sensitive at the sight, really, because I slipped. The ball rolled from beneath my foot. Mike grinned triumphantly, as if he was saying '_See? You make mistakes too.'_

The girl had seen me stumble. She poked her father, to make him look my way. I turned around automatically. Hey, a four-year old is smarter than you would think. It's not all brawling and crying and talking about Elmo.

Her father seemed to recognize me. Apparently he remembered me, despite the fact that I was only there for brief seconds when he came. My mother was constantly teaching me how to bake this, how to decorate that.

I was, though, truly still very young. My mind didn't process the fact that the two were obviously from the Seam – seeing as they traded fresh meat with our family, and the clothes. Seam people never dared to come here. They hung out in the Seam's own little grubby park. They were afraid of being laughed at, or being outcasts back at the Seam for being in the merchants' park.

The two obviously didn't care about the staring. The father had brought a little ball – not quite competition to our soccer balls. The girl walked into the park without even looking at all the merchants and their children. They began a game of catch. Just like that.

I was curious. I was foolhardy. I didn't know right or wrong, thick or thin. And so I got up, got the dirt off my knees, and headed towards the two, leaving my brother behind, staring.

The father seemed to notice me coming over. He greeted me with a smile.

"Hello," He said, without any note of inquiry in his voice.

I nodded, wordless.

The girl looked at me. I noted her single braid. I expected her to retreat. She didn't. She just looked at me, her gray eyes boring into mines.

"Do you want to join us?" Her father said again, trying to disturb the silence washing over us.

I nodded again. And so, they continued, now with me in the game. The first few throws were awkward. With all the people watching, it was hard for it not to be so. But I forgot about the merchants. Their children. My brothers. After all, merchant or not, everyone was a person, a living person. I didn't want to rule the two out just for where they came from. Seam or not, it was fun to play catch with them, to hear the father's laugh, to see the girl's sweet smile, to smell the rubbery scent of the little grubby ball.

Somehow, sunset came upon us.

"It was fun," the girl finally said, grinning at her father, not even looking at me. It didn't really matter to me then.

Her father smiled. He turned to me. "What's your name?"

"Peeta," I say.

He nods. "Peeta Mellark," he says. I don't even question the fact that he knows my last name. "I'm Keane Everdeen," He says, smiling. "This is my daughter, Katniss Everdeen."

She looks at me, and doesn't even try to say anything. Her father gives a Look at her.

"Hello," she says quietly, not quite meeting Peeta's eyes.

"Hi," I say, not knowing what to do. My brothers have already left. I look up at the sky. Already getting dark. This won't do. I quickly turn to the two. "Thank you," I say, smiling before I quickly run back home.

It became a memory. A sweet one, nevertheless, a memory, in my mind. Time changes people, and I was at the ripest season to finally be picked from the tree of youth. I grew up. After a year, I was no longer a normal, adorable boy. I was a normal boy.

The leaves came, whirling in the wind, to notice me that the fall season was coming, to tell me that I was becoming older. It was going to be my first year of primary school – and I was so psyched. Slowly came the days where the wind went from a hot tornado to a stream of cool wind, and I knew that time had came for me.

My mother's face was streaming with tears and laughter. "Finally a man!" She said as she watched me eat. I smiled, ignoring Mike and Jared's teasing. My father was already in his best, cleanest clothes, waiting for me to finish my breakfast. I quickly wolfed the meal down, and wiped the bread crumbs at the corner of my mouth. I patted my clothes down, and then gave a wave of goodbye to my mother and two brothers before finally going off with my father.

I was so jubilant, off to school for the first time. Being locked up in the house at daytime, trying to make bread and decorate the cookies and cake, wasn't exactly fun. All I could think about was school. Friends there, to have fun with. Teachers there, to teach me something more than baking. Things to learn. The thought made me happy dance inside, and my father knew what I was thinking. He kept on smiling and grinning at me – as if he was proud of me. And I think he really was.

We had finally arrived.

There were many other children with their parents – and once again, I caught the eye of Katniss Everdeen.

Her red plaid dress made her literally glow. Her hair was in two braids, instead of the usual one. Her father was there, talking with her. She didn't seem as excited – I suppose she had her right to do that. She was from the Seam – even though there were many other children from the Seam there, she knew that she would be an outcast. Seam children always were outcasts.

Her eyes lingered on mines for a few seconds, and the bewildered look she was giving me made me think something along the lines of the fact that she didn't remember who I was. But her face looked as if she had even saw me before I saw her. Her father didn't quite notice me – he was busy looking around the room.

Once the girl looked away, my father nudged me. I had the feeling he didn't know that I was staring at her. Suddenly, he opened his mouth to say the most surprising words I would have expected from him.

"You see that girl there?" He said, looking in the direction of Katniss, who was now back to talking with her father and looking around.

I nod, almost jumping up and shouting 'Halleluiah' in the bewilderment.

"I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner."

I'm even more bewildered, staring at Mr. Everdeen. "Why would she marry a coal miner if she could have had you?"

"Because," he paused for a moment. "When he sings, even the birds stop the listen."

I give a second look at Katniss. She looks as exactly as I would imagine her mother to be like – the large eyes, the long eyelashes, the gray eyes bringing out her glow even more. Her black hair looked more of a golden brown than the usual Seam black, or it was only my imagination. I wasn't sure if she truly looked like that, but I knew that she would always be like that in my mind from now on. I knew that, even being five, I would never look at her the same way again, not with knowing my father's story.

My father cough again, and the teacher comes in, and gives a small talk. Then, she dismisses the parents. I give a wave to my father, and the corner of my mouth curve a little when I see the proud expression on my father's face. I see him looking at Mr. Everdeen, not quite with hatred nor jealousy, but as if they were friends who never met.

The teacher commences in our first lesson as soon as the parents are gone. I couldn't focus on what she was saying. I only had eyes for Katniss. Not in the lovingly way, but still, I was curious about her story, her background, her father. How could her father sing so beautifully, that even the birds wanted to listen? I thought there was no such thing.

Later that day, there was a music assembly. The teacher asked if anybody knew the valley song. This time, she had no such hesitation, like when she was greeting me. Her hand went straight up in the air. My eyes followed her figure as the teacher called her forward, and had her stand up on a stool. All the other children were looking at her, not quite with admiration. I knew her singing must have been decent, if her father was the person who had claimed someone's love with his singing.

She coughed once, and her mouth slowly opened, ready to sing.

_Rivers of rainbow quickly ran through_

Pastures of grass painted the sky blue

_Daisies adored by green butterflies_

_Tis the world's beauty, if only we knew._

_The owner of the valley _

_Lives in a lair above_

_If only we knew that the nature_

_Was bestowed on endless love_

_Rivers of rainbow quickly ran through_

Pastures of grass painted the sky blue

_Daisies adored by green butterflies_

_Tis the world's beauty, if only we knew._

_Green is delicious to the eye_

_To the nose, to the ears_

_The sweet scent of valley_

_Spreads everywhere_

_Rivers of rainbow quickly ran through_

Pastures of grass painted the sky blue

_Daisies adored by green butterflies_

_Tis the world's beauty, if only we knew._

_Hey, valley_

_The valley-o_

Good-bye, valley

_The valley-o_

_Rivers of rainbow quickly ran through_

Pastures of grass painted the sky blue

_Daisies adored by green butterflies_

_Tis the world's beauty, if only we knew._

The birds had stopped chirping.

My mouth formed the shape of an 'O'.

And I knew, that from that second, I was in love with Katniss Everdeen.

Falling for the wrong person, like my father did.

And I didn't care.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Note – if you're going to vomit over my work do not, I repeat, do not do it on your computer. I'm sure you or your parents worked hard to pay for it and ruining it on my terms is definitely not a good thing to do, lol. Hahahahaha Just kidding, enjoy! (P.S. Ignore the fact that primary schools have lockers.)_

Chapter 2

History class was always the worst.

Mrs. Scotfield was just going on and on about the fake accounts of the was and basically how nobody should ever attempt at a rebellion again – and I didn't believe in a single word of it. It's my most despised class, of course – nobody liked it, actually. I was sure that Mrs. Scotfield knew that what she was saying was a lie – and I could not imagine how horrible it had to be, to tell the same truths to children every year over and over again. It must be the worst job to have, even worse than being a coal miner.

I coughed. I wasn't supposed to think like a merchant's kid. Not when I was in love with someone with the Seam.

I didn't know how thick he must have been to love Katniss Everdeen – but it seemed natural to me. Simple. This time, I was not going to fail like my father did. I was going to succeed. Somehow, no matter what it took – my mother taking out all her anger on me, or my brothers labeling me as an outcast, anything. I didn't _fucking_ care. _Blame Katniss Everdeen,_ I said, amused. _Blame her and her perfection._

I coughed for the second time. I was only twelve, for goodness sake's. At the young age of ten, anything 'love' was 100% a crush, a fling. Nobody was serious, like I was, about the so-called relationships.

My eyes automatically turned to Katniss. Katniss was staring out of the window, as always, her eyes so far away, staring at the little schoolyard. Mrs. Scotfield didn't really care – of course, it was no point in telling someone to focus on listening to lies – and the teacher didn't plan to snap Katniss out of it. Katniss just kept on staring out the window, not caring about anything. Like always.

She was always so quiet at school, not at all like the five-year old her only five years ago. I've seen her sometimes in town, laughing with her father and teasing her younger sister, but other than that, she was completely silent. She sat alone at lunch, she never tried to make face, and she didn't even try to make conversation with anyone at school, except for her younger sister Prim Everdeen, who was six year old and new to school. She was so natural around Prim, but to everyone else, she was frozen. I knew that, underneath all the coldness and the mask, there was a lovely her, the one who used to play catch, the one who laughed with her dad, the one who liked to make her younger sister laugh.

I quickly turned my head to the textbook again, afraid that someone would catch me staring at Katniss. I didn't care about liking someone from the Seam at all, but I did want to keep the secret to myself. It would be the same anyways even if I liked a girl from merchant's family.

Finally, Mrs. Scotfield finished her talk about the rebellion, and the bell rung, signaling that classes were over. I quickly stood up as soon as she dismissed us. Katniss stood up even before me, hurrying to get out of the room. I followed suit, hurrying so that I could possibly get her attention, for once.

Grabbing my book bag, I got to the door right after her. I went past her, slightly brushing against her shoulder, giving me shivers from head to toe. She didn't even look in my direction. I sighed inaudibly.

My friend's, Kyle and Gillian, caught me right as I got to my locker.

"Hey, man," Kyle said, trying to sound 'cool', as always. "You got anything after school?"

"Work," I grumbled. The two weren't bad guys, exactly, but I didn't like them all that much. They were what you called try-hards – trying to act older than their age, and attempting to get into the secondary school gangs.

"Baking again?" Gillian groaned. "It's the weekends, Peeta. You can't work forever."

I sighed. Some friend. "I don't work forever," I say, rolling my eyes. In the corner of my eye, I see Katniss already with Prim and about to leave. "What? Stop staring at me."

"Damn," Kyle says. He nudges Gillian. "Let's go, then." And that's the last thing he says before they leave. I give a sigh of relief, before take one deep breath. It's time. I've been waiting long enough. It's been five years. I take a few quick steps towards Katniss's direction, and try to act natural before slowly, everyone leaves the school. There are only a few people left – people I don't know well, mainly. Katniss is teasing Prim – I have to smile at the sight. I get closer to Katniss, and before I start to worry about the fact that I don't even know what to say, I tap on her shoulder. Almost. That's when Prim notices me, and gives me a small grin, as if she knew what was going on, even being a six year old. She tells her sister she needs to go to the lavatory, and leaves. Katniss leans against her locker and looks bored. That's when I tap on her shoulder.

"Hi," I say. She suddenly turns her head in my direction, highly surprised.

"Hello," she replies, before suddenly shivering and looking as if she had just seen a ghost. "Have we…met?"

"Yes, I think," I say. I almost want to slap myself for not thinking through what to say before. "At…the park, I think?"

I'm pretending to have forgotten it. To have considered the whole memory a very faint one. But it's not. It never will be.

"Oh, right, when we played catch," she recalls, her tone softening a bit. I'm taking this as good news. "And what do you want to talk to me about?"

What am I supposed to reply? The game was fun? Stop avoiding me? That I've been in love with you from fives years, almost from the first time we officially met?

I don't say any of those things. Instead, I say the first thing that pops in my mind.

"I noticed that you weren't concentrating in History class." I splutter out. Her face suddenly morphs from the faint smile to a pissed look. Great, Peeta Mellark. This is how your first conversation with Katniss goes?

"And what do you care about it?" She demands. I felt as if the barrier that had broken between us on the mentioning of the park had rebuilt itself again.

I cough. "I just wanted to say that, I completely agree on you with being bored to insanity by History class."

She looks at me, puzzled. People don't try to talk to each other just because of these little things. She also knows clearly that I'm not from the Seam.

"History is boring," she says before she sees Prim, back from the lavatory, apparently. I quickly back off without even another word and head home, my face burning red.

What would she do when she returned home? Tell her father about the conversation? Tell her mother about it? Her younger sister, perhaps? No matter what she did, I did not leave a good impression on Katniss Everdeen. This was the most fucking day ever.

The moment I get home, I see my mother waiting at the door. I'm late.

She says nothing, but I know what to do. First drop my backpack on the chair, and getting on the clothes I wore for baking before starting with the basics – sweeping the floor, cleaning the counters, and then onto baking bread. Once I have everything prepared for work, I'm off and sweeping. I don't even talk to my brothers. I just try to forget about the whole conversation, and sweep out all the thoughts, of how Katniss must hate me right now. Or not hate. Perhaps, she just considers me a social freak.

"Peeta," Jake nudges me. "What's up?"

I don't reply. I know I must have looked pretty suspicious – but I didn't care. There was no absolute way that I was going to tell anybody what had happened.

Once I'm done with sweeping the floors, I'm off to cleaning the counters I'm responsible for. My hand has barely reached the bucket of towels before my father walks in the kitchen.

"Peeta," he calls. That's it. I'm not sure what to do. He gestures for me to come to the front of the shop – the place where we take orders and sell our products.

"Do you know this girl?"

My eyes quickly look over the sales counter. And my heart soars and sinks towards the ground again as soon as I see who it is.

It is Katniss.

"Uh, yeah, she's in my grade," I say, looking at my dad. My father definitely knows who this is. He was the one who pointed her out on the first day of school. But he does nothing to reveal that. "I'll be back in a second," I tell my dad before hurrying out of the shop, Katniss following me.

Once we're out of the shop, I don't even have time to process what is happening before she opens her mouth.

"Look, I don't know what was up with that conversation thing," She looks at me with narrowed eyes. "Just…leave me alone. It's not good for you, neither is it for me."

I'm not surprised at what she says at all, somehow. "How is it bad?" I look back at her. "When you don't know why I talked to you," I add.

"Because," she grits her teeth, as if she doesn't want to say it. "Because…you and I have different background. You talking with a girl from the Seam won't be any good for you," she sums it up. I want to tell her I don't fucking care. But naturally, I don't.

"What does it matter?" I say good-humouredly.

She rolls her eyes in exasperation. "Never mind. Just." She walks off.

Just like that.

My first real conversation with her, and it was one in which she told me to fuck off.

And so, I state again, history class is the worst.

It's been a year since our last talk in back of my shop.

It's another Saturday. My alarm clock goes off, and I scramble out of bed, hurrying to get dressed for the soccer match. It's one of those weekly ones we always have – me and the rest of the guys at school who play soccer. My soccer skills are decent, I suppose, or decent enough to be relied on to kick in all the winning goals. I've already got my soccer uniform shirt on when suddenly, the builiding shakes as if shivering.

My heart almost stops. We never have earthquakes in District 12. I think there might have been one or two in the past, but we hardly get any of those. District 12 is usually safe from natural disasters. But this time, I get the bad feeling that it is not an earthquake.

I quickly hurry downstairs to find out what's going on, before the shaking starts again. My cling onto the handle for life, and then continue getting downstairs. My brothers are already there – freaked out with terror – and my mother is shrieking. I don't even hesitate before opening the glass door and heading outside, only to see the floor covered in a thin layer of ash.

I run towards where everyone is running away from – struggling against the people warning me not to go. But it's too late. I find myself near the mines. Miners are scrambling out for their lives, and people nearby and escaping, also.

The mines have exploded.

The thought struck me so quickly I didn't have any time to react to the horror of it.

Through the ash raining down on the earth, I find Katniss in the distance. She's screaming something. I barely catch it.

She's screaming for her dad to run.

I want to shout to her to run away – that the ash will damage her, either physically, or emotionally, or both. I see her mother collapsed on the floor, Prim helplessly crying over her mother's body.

I hurry over to her mother, and Katniss catches my eye. This time, she doesn't try to get me away. I extend a hand to her mother, and surprisingly, she slowly takes it. I wonder if she knows that I am the son of the person who fell for her. I wonder if she knows that I am the boy who is in love with her daughter.

"You should go to a farther place until reinforcements come," I say to Katniss, my face streaked with pain. I'm feeling her pain – she has probably lost her father. She doesn't know yet, but I get the feeling that her father has died. I hate myself for the thought.

"My father…" Her face is streaming with tears. I want to take her in my arms, to tell her everything is okay. But I cannot. Things are not alright anyways. She just lost her father. And here I am, telling her to get away from the place.

"It'll hurt you and your family!" I shout at her. She snaps out of it, and she quickly tells her mother to get a bit further away from the mine. Her mother is lost for words, lost for emotion – frozen in time.

And as I'm leading the three to a safer place, I'm thinking that Katniss's scream, for her dad to run, will haunt me in my dreams forever.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: **Thanks to** **ariathebrave, BlueRosesJane, XxWinterFallzxX, LivingReminder, and Howl3 for commenting/adding me to their Favorites! Especially to ariathebrave **_

_The beginning is a continuation to the last chapter. _

Chapter 3

Katniss is lost for words.

There are many others who are crying, calling for their beloved ones, who have passed away for sure. Ash is raining down on the earth, yet nobody cares to escape. There are Peacekeepers already at the scene to assess the damage before reinforcements from other Districts come – sending the coal miners out, trying to find dead bodies. They don't dare to go in – there might be a second explosion – but the Peacekeepers are doing their best, surprisingly. I'm praying that, somehow, Mr. Everdeen makes it out alive. Katniss is trying to comfort the sobbing Prim, who doesn't know what is happening but must know that this is very bad. Katniss's mom looks so helpless I want to help her somehow – but even Katniss doesn't try to get near her mom. I take it as a sign to leave her mother alone.

"What…happened?" Katniss manages to say before staring at nowhere again, losing focus on the world and the mine. She looks more helpless than ever, even more than her mother – and I do understand why. Her father was her comfort, her friend, the one who cared for her so much – the person she loved. And she didn't even know if he was safe or not.

I don't know what to do. There's nothing I can do anyways. I cannot comfort her, I cannot tell her everything is going to be fine. I cannot tell her if her father is safe or not – nor can I tell her to go home. My family and others from town will see me with a Seam family and get angry with me, anyways.

"Look, I'll be back," I say before Katniss can reply. I run off, trying to not think about how confused and pissed Katniss might be. Back at home, it's so silent you could hear a pin drop. Everyone has ran out to see what all the commotion was about, probably. Perfect. I get my hands on a pack of cookies, hoping that nobody will notice in the midst of all the bewilderment, and run off towards the mine again.

I didn't want to think what I had just done – stolen something from my own family and about to give it to someone for free.

My mother was not exactly one to be kind. She would never allow it.

"Here," I say, panting as I hand the little bag of cookies to Katniss. I don't know what could be running in her mind – something along the lines of 'what the hell is this?'. She must think me insensitive – giving someone cookies when they just probably lost a loved one.

But she takes it, hesitantly. She takes a cookie out of the bag, and she eyed the icing carefully done on it. My eyes widen as I recognize the icing as my work. I should have totally checked what I had in the bag before I took it. Now she's going to think that I'm trying to show off.

She doesn't. She thinks of it as something else, though. "I'm not paying for this," she says, annoyed with me. She must think me as just someone who was trying to sell her things.

"No, it's for free," I blurt out. "Prim looks like she needs one."

But we're only twelve. Innocence gets the better of her. "Thanks," she mutters as she hands the cookie to Prim. Prim gently takes it, and takes a bite. She looks at me.

"Thank you," she says kindly before tears overfill her eyes again. Katniss holds Prim tight. I know I should leave. I begin to leave before she taps me on the shoulder. I shiver.

"I don't know why you care about our family," she starts. "But, thanks."

I don't say anything. I touch her shoulder bravely as a sign of my remorse and walk away.

My heart is beating fast and I don't know how to calm it down. Katniss doesn't know what is up with me. But I don't think she has any space in her mind to care about my doings right now. All she can think of is her father. Still in that coal mine. Not knowing if dead or alive.

This is turning into a tragedy.

Days go by so fast that I feel as if four days have passed and it's only been a few minutes. A team of reporters and camera crew arrived along with a team of emergency crew from other Districts. A large group of coal miners have survived – but about a quarter of them have died. This is quite a shock to everyone in District 12 – having the smallest population in Panem, we didn't expect to lose so many in only one day.

I hear from town that the list of people who died was post – and I quickly hurry down to the town bulletin to see.

Not many merchants care about who has died, because they're all from the Seam. There are few people who are scamming the list, and I quickly look through the names.

There it is. Keane Everdeen.

My heart sinks so fast I'm sure it's somewhere in my shoes now.

I'm terribly shocked. Her father is dead?

Now, if she was from town, it would still matter a lot – but she'd probably own a shop and her mother could keep on the business somehow. But, she's from the Seam. People from the Seam are poor enough already – without a man in the family, there's no way to take care for a family of three. Katniss and Prim are growing children – they need their share of food. Her mother looks too helpless to do anything that I'm worried for the family. Women can't work in the mines anyways, and people from town won't accept women from the Seam to work in their shops. The mines are probably going to be closed down for months – what are they supposed to do?

I run back home. There's nobody in the shop except for Mike. My mother and Jared are off to sell bread to the Peacekeepers around the mine – taking the bull by the horns, as my mother eloquently states. My father is off buying more flour. I take two loaves of banana bread I baked this morning, and stuff them in the Mellark-specialized paper bag.

"I'm going to go see if I can sell these," I call to Mike, and before he can question me any further, I head off to the Seam.

I've always known where Katniss's house was – call me stalker, yes, but I did know. With a bit of poking and slight stalking, I had found out. I didn't even care if Katniss was going to be suspicious at the fact that I know where she lives. She probably had too many things on her mind to care anyways.

I knock on the ash-covered wooden door.

A bloodshot-eyed Prim opens the door. She recognizes me.

"Katniss! It's the boy with the cookies!" She shouts behind her.

The boy with the cookies?

Before it processes through my mind, I see a pale Katniss looking at my way.

"Why are you here" is the first thing she says.

I blush. "I wanted to see if Prim liked the cookies. So that maybe I could be of some help. And," I hand Prim the paper bag. "I brought bread."

Katniss looks starving. She looks as thin as a pencil. Prim feels the bread in the bag and looks as if she wants to hug me. "Katniss!" She shouts jubilantly, for the first time I days, I can assume. "Food!"

She looks apologetic. "Look, I'm sorry," she looks straight into my eyes. I want to rant about how beautiful and mysterious her somehow gray-yet-blue eyes look, but I have better things to do than to daydream. "I can't tell you how thankful I am." Her eyes are still fresh from crying. "Just…"

"I saw the list." I tell her, to save her from the pain of explaining.

She nods. "Just…" A tear streaks down her face. I want to wipe it off for her.

"I'm really sorry…"

Katniss doesn't reply. "You should go," She tells me. "Your parents must be worried."

"Right," I say trying to not sound disappointed.

It's been a year since me handing her those two loaves of banana bread.

At school, I can see the way that Katniss is suffering – thinning out so much, black circles under her eyes, her skin pale white. She doesn't look healthy at all, but still, she looks beautiful. Without her father, I cannot imagine how hard her life must be.

I've seen her sometimes out of school, trying to scourge by for food. There was once when she had came to our bakery to trade some oil for bread. Oil must be no use for her.

All I know is that she's truly brave. Getting on without any parent's help and taking care of two others as well as herself…it must be horrible at times. Even Prim looks much less healthy than last year. It's surprising how someone can change so much in a year.

Katniss is also much more cautious now. She's even colder at school, her face expressionless, never talking much. Unlike the old her, scrambling to get out of school when the bell rang, she now seems to be hating school being over.

It's another Saturday, trying to bake bread – the nutty kind, filled with all sorts of almonds and things. Rain is pouring hard outside and the customer rate is low. That's when I hear my mother scream behind the bakery, near the trash dump.

"Get away from our bakery, you scum!" I can hear. I quickly hurry to the back of the kitchen, and my eyes widen as I see my mother screaming at Katniss Everdeen.

"I'm sick of this! All the brats from the Seam pawing through our trash!" She shouted. I can see how desperate Katniss is – her hair in strands because of the rain, mud stuck there and here on her clothes. She's shivering with hunger, and I can see that she's going to die of hunger.

I'm so anxious to do something to help her – or else her family or her is going to die, or get sick. I'm sure of it. I can see her leaning against the apple tree next to the pig pen, and sliding down against the trunk, tears in her eyes. My mother is a witch, but before I can take that information in, I head back to the kitchen, and throw the two loaves of bread into the fire.

My mother sees. She's now screaming at me. I quickly retrieve it from the fire.

"Feed it to the pig, you stupid creature! Why not? No one decent will buy burnt bread!" My mother lashed at me with stick. I winced.

I begin to tear chunks off the bread, very aware of the fact that Katniss is watching my every move, and knowing who I was – the boy with the cookies, the boy who had tried to get into her business at the explosion scene. The bell rings, and my mother quickly hurry to the front of the shop, to the counter. This is the time to act. I scram out of the bakery and get near the pig pen. Katniss is watching me. At the last second, I toss the bread to Katniss, then quickly get back into the shop, knowing that Katniss was going to be saved by the mere two loaves, and knowing that now, I was the boy with the bread. I had not got that red welt on my face for nothing. I had saved Katniss Everdeen's life.


End file.
